For many years, non-metallic, generally polymeric, tip inserts or separator pads have been used between adjacent vehicular leaf spring plates (or leaves), as a means of reducing friction, noise and wear and improving ride as the plates slide relative to each other when the spring flexes during operation of vehicle. Examples involving the use of leaf spring separator pads at the ends of the leaves which support the main leaf attached to the vehicle chassis may be found In U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,219,151 and 5,706,559. The most common and expedient approach to attachment is to integrally mold a projecting solid or tubular shank or post on the underside of the tip insert pad which is then inserted in a through hole centrally located near the ends or tips of some or all of the supporting leaves and second stage leaves in a multi-leaf spring assembly.
Prior leaf spring tip inserts have been commonly designed following either or both of two approaches. The first has been specification of an intentional interference fit between the diameter of the tip insert post or shank and the diameter of the receiving hole in the spring leaf relying on compression of that polymer shank and resulting radial forces and friction with the surface of the receiving hole in the spring leaf to accomplish tip insert retention. The second and most common means has been to provide some form of an integrally molded radial projection or protuberance near the free end of the tip insert shank which substantially exceeds the diameter of the receiving hole in the spring leaf. Such a tip insert design commonly employs a tubular shank with two or more axial slots through the shank wall to allow inward deflection of the post to accommodate passing of the said shank end projection through the receiving hole in the spring leaf. When the shank is fully inserted in the leaf spring plate the projection extends beyond the lower surface of the spring and overlaps the outer edges of the receiving hole to achieve retention of the tip insert in vehicle service.
It is recognized that it is desirable to provide a tip insert that may be easily installed with minimum force using simple tools, but requires high force to be removed or disengaged once it has been installed in the spring leaf. Generally tip inserts which are the easiest to install provided the least retention to the leaf spring as a result of the lack of sufficient interference fit of the tip insert shank diameter with the receiving hole and/or the amount of overlap of the shank end protuberance with the receiving hole. Increasing the interference fit and/or the overlap of the tip insert shank end protuberance with its receiving hole in the spring leaf has been employed to increase the reliability of tip insert retention, as measured by the force to push the tip insert shank in reverse, back out of the hole in the spring leaf. However, the degree of difficulty and force required to insert the shank through the hole in the spring plate increases greatly in this situation and result s in a high level of permanent deformation of the polymer shank and/or the radial protuberance which decreases its ultimate interference and retention capability. As a result, the retention capability and reliability of past tip insert designs has been limited and less than needed to achieve acceptable durability in many vehicle leaf spring applications.